DIAMOND RIO CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY WITH THE RELEASE OF THEIR FIRST-EVER LIVE ALBUM NOVEMBER 18

DIAMOND RIO CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY
WITH THE RELEASE OF THEIR FIRST-EVER LIVE ALBUM
NOVEMBER 18

Diamond Rio Live Tracks Available Exclusively at iTunes November 18

Diamond Rio Live CD/DVD Available Exclusively through
Rio Hot Records

Nashville, TENN. (November 10, 2014) – After 25 years together, more than 10 million albums sold, a Grammy Award, a Dove Award, six Vocal Group of the Year wins (CMA and ACM), two Greatest Hits projects, 9 studio albums including three certified Platinum® and five Gold®, five multi-week no. 1 singles, 22 Top 10 singles, an autobiography and zero band member changes, Diamond Rio is finally releasing their first live album. Diamond Rio Live will be available exclusively at iTunes November 18. The CD/DVD Diamond Rio Live will be available exclusively through Rio Hot Records at www.diamondrio.com.

“It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a while,” lead singer Marty Roe says. “Our live show plays a major role in who we are. I didn’t start as a recording artist. I started on stage.”

“As a group of guys goes, we are some of the best procrastinators there are,” mandolin player and background vocalist Gene Johnson jokes. “We’ve been known for a long time as the live band that sounds just like the record, so it was time to capture that.”

Diamond Rio Live includes 22 of their top 10 singles, five no.1 singles and two never before recorded highlights of their show, the Newgrass Medley and Western Medley. “After all these years this is the first time we ever recorded [Western Medley], and I’m so glad it is part of this CD,” said bass guitarist and baritone vocalist Dana Williams. “It’s just GOOD music. God Bless the Cowboy!” Lead singer Marty Roe says of Newgrass Medley, “Bluegrass is a huge influence on our sound both vocally and instrumentally. I can’t imagine not including it on this project. Most of us grew up in the 70’s listening to pop and rock. This just seemed to make sense and is a lot of fun for us to perform live.”

The group also includes two Hits’ Medleys because as lead guitarist Jimmy Olander explains, “Medleys come about because as time passes in your career, you realize that there is no way to include every radio single in your show. Obviously some songs were bigger hits than others, but you can’t discount that there are still big fans of these songs.” He adds, “We’ve taken the chorus and the hook elements and made them into a couple of what we call Hits’ Medleys. It was important to us that we didn’t discount a bunch of songs that speak to our career.”

Recorded from multiple live performances, Diamond Rio Live features 32 songs. The distinguished three-part harmonies and instrumentation sound as sharp as they do in their live show because the 14-time Grammy nominees and Grand Ole Opry members have always been known for playing every note on every album – from the beginning. “Who could duplicate Diamond Rio’s sound better than we can?” says drummer Brian Prout.

The DVD, available exclusively through Rio Hot Records at www.diamondrio.com, features never before seen interviews of the six longtime friends reminiscing about the past 25 years, sharing their fondest memories from the road, stories of recording various albums in the studio and talking about their lean early years getting started. The DVD is hosted by radio personality and close friend Shannon McCombs.

Diamond Rio signed to Arista Records and in 1991 with the release of “Meet In The Middle,” became the first country music group in history to reach #1 with a debut single. The band is also known for their hit singles “How Your Love Makes Me Feel,” “One More Day,” “Beautiful Mess,” “Unbelievable,” “In A Week Or Two” and more. They released their first-ever autobiography, Beautiful Mess: The Story of Diamond Rio on Thomas Nelson in 2009.

The band known for playing every note on every album has released nine studio albums (including a Christmas album), two Greatest Hits compilations and now their first-ever live project, Diamond Rio Live. Known for their charity commitments including long-time spokespersons for Big Brothers Big Sisters, the band has raised over $1,000,000.00 for non-profits and received the Minnie Pearl Humanitarian award.